The Legend Of The "Shapwick Monster" (Shapwick, Dorset)

The Shapwick Monster (Crab Farm Weathervane):
Copyright Steve Edge Reuse Under Creative Commons Licence. [Image link]

As a child I was told the story of the mythical Shapwick Monster. The story goes that in 1706 a travelling fishmonger, passing through the parish of Shapwick, dropped a live crab unawares from his cart. Some of the villagers came upon the crab, and were not sure what it was. The Village Elder was called and he announced that it was a "monster". The villagers armed themselves with sticks and pitchforks to drive the "monster" away.

The fishmonger, according to legend, returned in search of the missing crab to find the villagers crowded around the "monster". He simply picked up the crab, putting it back on his cart, and continued on his travels. Unfortunately, the fishmonger recounted the story of the dim-witted villagers of Shapwick mistaking a simple crab for a "monster". Since this time the villagers of Shapwick have been thought of locally as a "bit simple".

The nearby location of the "monster" sighting is now remembered by the aptly named "crab farm".


Farmland at Crab Farm (looking south):
Copyright Steve Rigg Reuse Under Creative Commons Licence. [Image Link]

References:
The Shapwick Monster (DarkDorset.co.uk)
The Shapwick Monster (wsr.org.uk)

Marriage Of My Parents Reuben Feltham & Sarah Wheeler (1831)

Canford Magna Parish Church:
[Photographer: Ian Britton] Link

My parents were married in the above parish church, Canford Magna on the 23rd of May 1831.
Reuben FELTHAM, Shapwick, to Sarah WHEELER, Longfleet, by Banns.
Witnesses: William & Mary Wheeler and Stephen Mundy Masterman

The banns of marriage (mentioned above), commonly known as "the Banns", (from an Old English word meaning "to summon") are the public announcement in a parish church that a marriage is going to take place between two specified persons. The purpose of banns was to enable anyone to raise any legal objections so as to prevent marriages that are legally invalid, either under canon law or under civil law. Appropriate objections could include a vow of celibacy, lack of consent, a pre-existing marriage (having been neither dissolved nor annulled), or the couple's being related within the prohibited degrees of kinship. [see Wikipedia]

Banns in Dorset:
"These were the published intention of marriage and had to be announced on three Sundays before the intended wedding. They were issued in each of the parishes in which the couple resided. Their purpose was so that any potential objectors to the marriage had three weeks in which to comment." [Link]

Canford Magna:
Canford Magna is a Dorset village located south of the River Stour, between the towns of Wimborne Minster and Poole.

The choice of Canford magna parish church for the wedding would seem sensible in view of Sarah Wheeler coming from Longfleet (near Poole) and Reuben Feltham coming from Shapwick. Mary Wheeler (Sarah's sister) and Stephen Mundy Masterman would marry later the same year (1931).


River Stour near Canford Magna:
[Photographer: Ian Britton] Link

Googlemark - Reuben Feltham & Sarah Wheeler